"''The Melomaniac'' (1903) is a delicious pre-animation cartoon. To fast, repetitive, bass piano notes, a maniacal gesticulating conductor rushes onscreen, followed by six prettily dressed chorus girls carrying batons. Imperiously, he begins conducting; a vibraphone and saxophone make their way somewhat discordantly into earshot. This is the music of preposterous comic obsession.

The conductor tears his head off and tosses it upward: it settles on the staff and turns into a note. He snatches the women's batons and tosses them up, too: they turn into the stems of each note. And when it's all done, everybody cakewalks offscreen and the notes fly away.

Mr. Johnston could have settled strictly for laughs, but he doesn't. Instead, he lets us hear the music in the Melomaniac's head, and at the same time gives us the musical equivalent of the Melomaniac's compulsions."--Margo Jefferson.

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